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Did the phone ring in your hotel room? Watch out it can be a scam!

A blow that can ruin any tourist trip seems to be spreading by several hotels in the world: the phone rings in his hotel room and, on the other end of the line, a person saying a receptionist of the establishment asks to verify the credit card numbers of guests.

The reasons for the request are varied: the “receptionist” can argue that the hotel had a problem in your computer system and that they need to collect again the guest card data (which are usually collected at the time the traveler check-in). On other situations, the person who’s calling can say that the problem is in the client’s credit card and your information needs to be confirmed

However, there are great chances that these calls are a scam whose purpose is to steal the credit card data of the traveler: in recent months, the American media reported several cases of people who have received these types of calls in their hotel rooms.

Phone call in the middle of night

A guest of the United States, for example, reported on the Reddit site that the phone rang in his hotel room on a Sunday at 10:30 in the morning. “It was a person saying hotel manager and letting me know that there was a breakdown in the computer system. He said that, because of this breakdown, I could check out later, but that would need to get the numbers of my credit card again, always emphasizing that, for my convenience, everything could be done by phone. I almost did, but in the end, I said I would rather give my data alive”.

An NBC jornal claims that two guest hotels of Hilton brand, one in Dallas and one in Seattle, also have been through this kind of situation. One of them got the call in the middle of the night and asking for the card information to the “receptionist”. In all, 20 hotel guests Hilton of Seattle would have received the call.

The jornal states that the scammers have managed to make the connections to the guests ‘ rooms without passing before the reception of the hotels.

The solution to not get caught is simple: If you’re in a hotel, never notify your credit card number via phone.

And you? Have you ever been through a situation like that in a hotel? Say your comments area of this post.